i want to be king

Chapter 915 Smoker's Champions League debut
In the middle of the night, the lights in the office were dimmed.

A video of a game is being played on the TV hanging on the wall. If you are a fan, you can definitely tell at a glance that this is the UEFA Super Cup match between Manchester City and Barcelona that just ended at the end of August.

Opposite the TV wall, in the dim light, one can see a tall and burly figure sitting slumped on the sofa, holding the remote control in one hand, fast forwarding and replaying from time to time, and holding a cigarette in the other hand, taking a deep breath frequently.

Every time he exhaled, the room was filled with smoke.

The ashtray on the armrest of the sofa was already full of cigarette butts, and every time the man smoked a cigarette, he put it into the ashtray and extinguished it, a lot of it would overflow, scattered on the armrest, sofa leather and the floor, looking dirty and messy.

But he still turned a blind eye to one after another, never stopping in the middle.

The whole room was filled with a thick choking smell of smoke, and he didn't even notice it.

In this way, I don't know how long it took, until he smoked the last cigarette in the cigarette box and found that several packs of cigarette boxes were already empty, then he exhaled heavily and sat up straight from the sofa.

He turned his wrist and looked at the time, it was already the next day.

The man straightened his arms on the sofa, wanting to stretch, but accidentally knocked the ashtray on the armrest to the ground. Cigarette butts and ash were scattered everywhere, but he just glanced at it, turned off the TV, and stood up.

This man had a thick back and a waist, and his height was estimated to be over 1.9 meters. When he stood up, he looked extremely vigorous.

Turning his sore neck, he clenched his fists again, and after a series of boxer movements to move his muscles and bones, he walked over to take his coat, opened the door and walked out of the office.

As soon as I went out, a gust of cool wind hit my face, I just felt that the whole person was more energetic, and the air was very fresh.

After the big man took a deep breath of air, he turned his head and sniffed the familiar smell of smoke in the room, as if that was the smell that fascinated him the most, then he closed the door and left.

……

This is a huge high-level modern football training base, located in the south of the small town of Scharnhorst in the eastern suburbs of Dortmund, Germany, in a place called Brakel.

When the big man walked out of the training building, the yellow logo of BVB was still on, very eye-catching. This is the symbol of the Bundesliga giants Dortmund, and it is also the football hall in the eyes of countless German fans.

After walking a certain distance, the big man did not forget to look back at the yellow sign. The corner of his mouth slightly raised, a proud smile appeared, and he saluted with his right index and middle fingers like a policeman.

He is Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.

Behind him is Dortmund's new training base, which started construction in [-] and was just opened at the beginning of this year. It took the club nearly six years and countless time, energy and money.

Messy mid-length hair, square head, beard, antique thick black glasses, sneakers, jeans, training shirt...

When Klopp turned his back to the training building and walked towards the parking lot, under the background of the lights in the distance, his image of a sloppy uncle, compared with the BVB training building behind him, did not have a rough aesthetic feeling.

……

This season, Dortmund did not start well.

After the first five rounds, the Hornets had two wins, one draw and two losses, ranking No.11 in the Bundesliga rankings.

The most recent game was a [-]-[-] loss to Hertha Berlin at home.

Many people have questioned Klopp, thinking that it is difficult for Dortmund to reproduce the glory of last season. The reason is very simple. Last season's midfielder Shaheen went to Real Madrid for a transfer fee of 1000 million euros.

The importance of Shaheen to Dortmund is known to everyone who knows football.

And what is different from last season is that Dortmund will participate in the Champions League this season and face a third-line battle.

This is the first Champions League game in Klopp's coaching career. The opponent is Manchester City, the champion team from the Premier League.

Interestingly, Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola is also participating in the Champions League for the first time.

What's more interesting is that since August [-], Dortmund lost to Belgium's Brugge in the peripheral qualifiers and failed to participate in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Eight years, [-] days, Dortmund finally returned to the Champions League.

Today's Dortmund is completely different from the Hornet that swept Europa back then. At that time, Dortmund was a veritable star team, but now the Hornet is younger and plays more passionately.

The head coach Klopp is a well-known sloppy uncle in Germany. The most interesting news about him is that Hamburg chose not to hire him because of his smoking, which made Dortmund take advantage of it.

Therefore, every time Klopp beats Hamburg, he will use this matter to ridicule his opponents.

Dortmund has not played in the Champions League for eight years and [-] days, Manchester City has never played in the Champions League, and both coaches are rookies in the Champions League, which makes everyone full of curiosity about the upcoming game.

Guardiola is best at passing and controlling the ball. Even in the European Super Cup against Barcelona, ​​Manchester City still insists on passing and controlling the ball. Dortmund, trained by Klopp, plays aggressively and is known for its passionate pressing and oppression.

The two coaches and the two teams can be said to be natural enemies of each other, and it depends on who can have the last laugh.

……

On the afternoon of departure for England, Dortmund held a press conference at the Braker training center.

Klopp still did not change his sloppy image, wearing jeans and a training shirt that seemed to have not been changed for a long time, yawning, showing his teeth yellowed by smoking, and came in front of everyone.

He always cut to the chase, never beat around the bush, and announced his 18-man squad for Manchester.

The only thing that is special is that the main scorer Barrios is absent due to injury, and Lewandowski is expected to start.

For this question, Klopp did not give a direct answer, but said that he believed in everyone in the team.

"I know a lot of you feel like we haven't been good enough this season, but we're going to prove you wrong."

"In Manchester, we will use our grit, determination and winning belief to defeat our opponents and regain respect and recognition."

For Dortmund who was unfortunately drawn to the death group, Klopp said that this is really bad.

"It's like I stayed up until midnight last night and found out that I didn't have a cigarette in my pocket, it sucks!"

The media reporters present were all amused.

Everyone knows that he is addicted to smoking.

"This is a very strong group, but we will use our strength and performance to prove that we have the ability to participate in the competition. We will compete with the other three teams for the two promotion places. This is very important to us."

Dortmund's financial resources are not strong, and it is very important for them to participate in the Champions League. If they can advance, the gains will be even greater.

Of course, in any case, the Bundesliga is equally important, because it is related to the qualification for the Champions League next season.

Barrios' absence due to injury will have an impact on Dortmund, but Klopp doesn't think it will matter.

"We also have Lewandowski and Perisic, who are both very good attackers."

These two players are highly anticipated. Perisic performed well in Bruges, Belgium, scoring and assisting a lot, but after coming to Dortmund, he played in the first five rounds, but failed to score or assist.

Obviously, he is still in the adaptation stage.

Lewandowski is the best striker in Poland, but after joining Dortmund, a season has passed, and he has not shown very convincing results so far, but Klopp is still full of confidence in him.

"I will not doubt his strength and potential. He is only 23 years old and scored a lot in the Polish league. We are very optimistic about him, so we brought him to Germany. He needs a little time to adapt and improve himself. This requires a process. We have enough patience to wait for his growth."

As for Manchester City and Sudong, Klopp said that he did not have much feeling.

"It's like smoking cigarettes. Rich people, middle class people and poor people smoke differently, so I don't look at rich people smoking cigars and think I have to because I don't have money in my pocket."

Klopp's words made everyone on the scene laugh again.

"There is no doubt that freezing Sudong will be a problem, but it is not necessarily true. We will try some methods and try our best to do it."

When Su Dong played for Bayern, Klopp played against Su Dong many times. He knew the threat and strength of Su Dong clearly, but the more so, the more understated he was.

Finally an interesting question.

For example, a familiar reporter will ask Klopp if he will continue to wear his usual dress on the day of the game, or will he be a little more tidy?
This question made the scene burst into laughter again, and the atmosphere was very active.

"Hey, please, don't cheat me." Klopp laughed and scolded.

"Although I don't read much, I know that UEFA has rigid rules. When playing games, you must wear a formal suit. I wore it when I played in the Europa League last season. They also reminded me repeatedly."

"If I get fined, I will have no cigarette money."

The last sentence was a whisper, but it just made all the reporters on the scene burst into laughter again.

In fact, he is a very charismatic head coach, maverick.

Whether it is on the court, or off the court, or facing the media reporters, he is like this.

He was never the polite gentleman like Heathfield. On the contrary, he would growl, get mad, and even make trouble for no reason. He was like a tiger living in his heart, showing off his power anytime, anywhere.

This is not something that can be bound by a suit.

And everyone is also looking forward to it. In the Champions League debut of the two teams and the Champions League debut of the two coaches, can Guardiola's pass and control trap Klopp?
(End of this chapter)